Smuttynose IPA "Finest Kind" | Smuttynose Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
You could say, then, that Smuttynose IPA is a physical salute to the glory of the American hop grower. The citrusy hop flavor coming from a mixture of Simcoe and Santiams is pleasantly balanced by a smooth bitterness from the Amarillo hops. The beer itself is light bodied and crisp with a golden color that will throw a slight haze, as we bottle it unfiltered. At 75 IBU's, this is definitely not a training-wheels IPA, but is meant for hop lovers looking to satisfy their craving in a way that's not easy to find. We think they’ll be quite pleased.

More User Reviews:

A bright, but dusky, titian colored beer with a clingy, creamy foam head. Pungent grapefruit, citric must, sappy pine and floral aromatics in the nose. Flavor is quite sharp upfront with a striking grapefruit juice/rind character, pine, archaic herbs and hints of sea salt that binds to the palate like a tenacious resin. Malt character is a bit juicy, at first, with a light honey sweetness, mild peary/peachy flavor and a malt biscuitiness that gently underlines the aggressive hop profile. Metallic/mineral water edge. Bone dry, with a linger chalkiness, floral sweetness and pear skin flavors.

Imagine getting hit upside the head with a bag of grapefruits, then, when you finally become conscious again, you awake to find you've got a grapefruit as a gag and you're being held hostage buy Smuttynose IPA.

Smuttynose's flagship IPA shows the classic character of the style, but doesn't relegate its balance to assertive malt presence, but rather adds complexities from soft esters and alcohol complexes instead.

Their "Finest Kind" pours lightly golden and with the signature dry-hopped haze and sediment for more hoppy goodness. It builds a stark- white head that nearly billows to the rim of the glass- showing off its elevated carbonation. As the froth settles into blanketed coat, it laces the glass with decorative random patterns. Its simply a very appetizing IPA, even to the eye.

Hop-heavy on the nose with bold citrus fruits of grapefruit, orange zest, lemons, pineapples, and tropical medley; the beer's perfumy and floral upstart is supported by light caramel malts that provide a juicy, vine-ripened sweetness to the citrus and tropical notes but never try to rival the hop aromas.

And the beer's hop-centric taste is consistent from its aromatics: citrus, tropical fruits, and fresh-cut grass on the early and middle palate leaves behind an ultra resiny pine bitterness to finish. Fruity esters give a sweet alcohol note of rose and spice. Interestingly, these flavors amplifies the sweetness as it seems to smooth out its bitter bite. Again, caramel malts provide firm underpinnings for the hop display but they never get in the way. The beer is simply an exhibition of American hops.

Crisp, clean, and playfully malty up front, the caramelly grains give way soon after the initial taste, allowing the hop character of bitterness, dryness, and bite to carry the beer deep into the finish and aftertaste. It's a true thirst-quencher.

Finest Kind is a quintessential IPA with a complex hop mix, crisp and understated hops, and noticeable esters and alcohols. Consistent and through from nose to finish.

Comes in a clear, slightly bubbly gold color with a solid finger of tight white head. Head dies a bit after a minute, but retention is mostly excellent, as a ring of head stays for the duration of the drinking process and it leaves nice lacing along the glass.
The aroma reeks of Simcoe--wet cannabis, dankness, pine, a bit of the "cat pee" thing. A big dose of lemon peel. There's zesty orange and some sweet bready malts.
Up front, you get a bit hit of pine and dankness. In the middle, you get biscuit malt sweetness, but it is fairly unobtrusive. There is a big herbal character, like basil and kale. The finish is medium-plus bitter, dry, and citrusy. Grapefruit pith, lemon, orange peel. The aftertaste lingers of citrus peel.
The mouthfeel is medium, almost medium-plus. Almost creamy in its heavy-handed hop oiliness. Finishes dry and is very drinkable.

This is one of the best widely available IPAs of the Northeast. Highly recommended for any hophead in search of a bang for their buck.

Exceptionally well balanced and subtly complex in the best of ways ( to me meaning eminently drinkable. I literally take sip and admire the bottle or glass for its superiority of beermeanor and am often carried off for a second-or many-to places I've been and other great beers I have consumed. State of mind recall is a quality ascribed to the best of beers. It's not often a Busch brings back great memories, well besides being ripped out of a drunken slumber as a minor on a friend's parents' commode...I digress... ). It is simply and eminently drinkable, time and time again...Like the the dudes on the bottle as welll...wow, this is not how one reviews a beer...

12 oz bottle with a bottled on date. Bright sunrise orange hue with some chill haze from the hops. The head retention is amazing, lots of stickage with many rings of lace left on the glass. Perfumy aroma of pine and grapefruit juice, a hint of grain and alcohol in the back.

Clean and stabbing bitterness from start to finish, a heavy hand of hop flavor; grapefruit juice, mild pine, tobacco and faint grassiness. Some alcohol sneaks in with a clean fruity ester, the pale maltiness holds the beer together quite well. The pungency level is pretty high and puckers the mouth as the crispness of the carbonation produces a thirst quenching feeling in the mouth. This is like Shoal's Pale Ale on hop steroids!

12 oz. bottle enjoyed from a Great Divide pint. This is easily some of the best packaging around, but I will address that later.

Radiant blonde with a honeyed texture. The body is somewhat nontransparent crowned by a billowy head of foam. Retention is great and the sticky lacing is even better.

Nose is a proportional blend of grapefruit, honey, pine and floral notes.

The hop character is relentless, yet equally distributed are the bittersweet citrus flavors. A dose of tangerines and grapefruit sprinkled with honey. Forest conifers are coated with tree sap, which gives the perfect stick appeal to the malt profile. Coats the palate on the way down, resulting in a thirst-quenching state of bliss. Has a smooth finish, which is largely predicated by the dry hopping.

This is a highly drinkable IPA. One of the leading IPAs in the northeast region, be sure to try Smuttynose if it's available in your area.

Note to Smuttynose Brewing: Revisiting the marketing strategy with Cy and Paul would not be a bad idea. In my humble opinion, its quiet genius would only be reinforced, and possibly raise the awareness level to an already standout brew.

Flavors were unfortunately how a Black Eyed Peas album should be listened to: muted. The bottle read: drink by October 2013. Now, that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't let Raul know when the hot dog thing was bottled. It's kind of like when Raul's baby Mama says, "It's fine, whatever." Things kind of are, but at the same time, they kind of aren't. Ya feel me, my children?

It was ok like a pedicure, but lets be real: Raul ain't going back for another.

Bought a single bottle from Beers of the World on 8/1/15 from Beers of the World. Served cold in a Duvel tulip. Poured from 12 oz bottle into a pint glass.Hazy apricot. White head that dissolves into thin film. Aroma is pine and candied citrus. Flavor is bready with some orange marmelade tang and a kiss of pine. Mouthfeel is good. This is a superb IPA.

I picked up a bottle of Smuttynose's Finest Kind IPA a few days ago for $1.79 at Holiday Market. I've been wanting to try this beer for awhile and now that Smuttynose is available in Michigan I thought I would start off with their IPA, so lets see how it goes. Best by 6/4/15. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a teku.

A- The label looks nice, it's got a classic look to it and it's a little eye catching. It poured a slightly hazy golden color that took on more of an orange color when held to the light with almost a finger and a half worth of off white head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left some spotty lacing behind. This is a good looking IPA, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the hops being the first to show up and they impart a mixture of green hops and citrus rind aromas with each aspect showing up evenly. Up next comes a slight bit of doughy yeast that leads into the malts with some pale malts, sweet malt and light bready aromas coming through. This beer had a pretty nice aroma, but I could have gone without the green hop aspects.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma and it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with the hops being the first to show up and they impart the same even mixture of green hops and citrus rind aromas. Up next comes a slight bit of doughy yeast that leads right into the malts which impart the same aspects that they did in the aroma with the sweet malts seeming to sticking out the most. On the finish there's a medium amount of bitterness with a green hop, citrus rind and sweet malt like aftertaste that was just a little watery. This was a pretty nice tasting beer, but I wish more of the citrus rind hops showed up.

M- Fairly smooth, crisp, fairly clean, on the lighter side of being medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. This beer had a good mouthfeel and it's what I would expect from the style.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and I thought it was an above average example of the style, it's a nice IPA, but I don't really see what sets it apart from the rest and while it is enjoyable I don't find it to be all that memorable. This beer had a nice drinkability, it was fairly smooth, crisp, fairly clean, not too filling and the taste did an ok job at holding my attention, I could drink a couple of these, but the taste doesn't really give me the urge to come back for more. What I like the most about this beer was the mouthfeel it was good and just what I expect from the style. What I like the least about this beer was the green hop aspect, I think this bee would be better if it didn't have that. I would buy this beer again, but I don't think it's something I'll keep in the fridge at all time. I would recommend giving this beer a try, but I can't say it's a stand out in the style. All in all I liked this beer, but I didn't love, it's a pretty solid IPA, don't get me wrong, but when it comes down to it, I don't think it has anything that really sets it apart or makes it memorable. This beer made for a nice first impression for Smuttynose and I think it falls at above average for the style. Nice job guys, this is a solid IPA, keep it up.

This is a solid IPA. The flavors are very well integrated; I'm mainly picking up citrusy lemon, pine, and grass with some fruit (maybe pineapple and grapefruit). This is all over a very nice malt back bone. What sets this beer apart from other IPAs is the finish. The finish is so clean and crisp. It's a very nice change up from the usual overly bitter IPAs that linger and leave your mouth really dry. It's actually drinkable; I think I'm gonna have another..This is a classic example of what an IPA should be.

16 oz tallboy from the LCBO; best before July 6 2017 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a hazy golden-amber hue, with just over a finger's width of foamy, frothy white head seated atop. It recedes evenly over the better part of five minutes, smothering the glass with a curtain of sticky lace as it does so, eventually leaving behind a generously-sized collar of creamy foam. The aroma is just one burst of hops after another, underlain with some bready, caramelized malt sweetness - there's citrusy grapefruit and orange, with loads of earthy pine resin as well as a mixture of dank, herbal, floral and earthy elements.

A delicious, flavourful IPA with a near-juicy feel at times from the fruity, citrusy aspects of its hop profile. Bready malts and some light caramel notes provide the scaffolding, but it's the flavours of orange and grapefruit which really leap out at me. Not to leave out the apricot, mango and pineapple, or the tsunami of bitterness that sweeps over your palate as you approach the latter half of the sip. Pine resin, dank herb and citrus pith, with lots of earthy bitterness, and it's all wrapped up nicely by some floral hops, which leave a dry feel on the palate. Medium-bodied, leaning toward the fuller side, with mild carbonation and a smooth, satisfying texture; a little slick/oily, feeling like it coats the tongue with each sip. As an unabashed hophead, I figured I was going to like this one, and it did not disappoint whatsoever.

Final Grade: 4.4, an excellent A grade. Finest Kind IPA is the sort of near-flawless, aggressively-hopped American IPA that brewers in Ontario have been attempting to emulate for years. Only a few of them have truly succeeded, however - because I really feel that Smuttynose's example here is better than 90% of the domestic stuff that I can find at the LCBO. This is only the 2nd Smuttynose beer I've had the chance to try, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more in the future. In the mean time, I'll be buying these cans regularly while they remain stocked and fresh. A great way to celebrate my 1400th review - cheers!

473 ml can served cold into a mug. Purchased from the LCBO for $3.15 CDN. Best before July 2017.

Appearance - a hazy rich golden coloured beer with orange highlights. Rather juice looking. A fine finger of white is poured, had good staying power and a film of lacing wraps around the top of the mug.

Smell - some citrus, pine resin are stars. There's a freshness here to the aroma that is rather inviting. Possibly some orange.

Taste - plenty of hops, citrus with grapefruit and lemon very minimal sweetness. Somewhat earthy and with some more pine resin, a nice blend of flavours that give no doubt this is an IPA. Would love just a little more sweetness, but this is quite good. Tastes better the more you drink of it.

Best by: 10.14.15. Drank 5.24.15. Poured from a 12oz bottle to a mason jar

A: Pours a murky orange pineapple color with a finger of thick white foam. A few floating particulates, next to zero visible carbonation. Looks very much the part of a flavorful east coast IPA.

S: Pine, Malt, Grapefruit, Pineapple. Relatively straightforward, and that is not a slight.

T: Floral hops with a piney tacky bitterness that last from beginning to end. A little bit of caramel malt and citrus tart shining halfway through each sip.

M: Medium body, crisp, refreshing, and with a subtle drying effect.

O: Possibly one of the best perpetually available, at reasonable cost, east coast IPAs out there. For whatever reason, I shied away from Smuttynose for my first few years in NY, and now I am wondering where the hell that came from. Some hop snobs might think they are above this beer, but pay to mind to them, this is a quality everymans IPA.

Still a decent NE IPA, but used to be a top notch NE beer (probably the best) when it was unfiltered. Seems to me that when the new brewery was built, the recipe changed. Maybe it's being outsourced? Used to pour a glass and be amazed at the "debris" floating within. That's what added the flavor I believe

Pours a murky honey orange with a foamy tan head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, and citrus zest aromas. Taste is much the same with citrus zest and grapefruit juice flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with solid citrus zest and citrus juice characteristics that are slightly better in the taste to me.

Pours slightly hazy brass with a choppy shortlived head. Ridges of lace coat the glass on the way down. Tangerine, grapefruit, honey and cracker-like pale malts in the nose. Huge wall of citrusy hops in the first sip gives way to tropical fruit and floral hop flavors. Eucalyptus bitterness is prominent throughout. A very solid - but never distracting - bready malt profile provides just enough balance. Full bodied with high carbonation. Mouthcoating bitterness and more citrusy, tropical notes in the very long finish.

This is a fantastic, benchmark IPA. Jam packed with juicy hops and loads of bitterness, but still balanced and approachable. A must try.

Murky, orange-tinged, peachy amber with plenty of yeasties/hop particles going for a swim. The head is large in size, rich cream in color, looks impressively sticky and will no doubt be a lace monster. The cap is refusing to fall lower than a one finger mesa of rich, creamy foam and leaves chunks of lace all over the inside of the pint glass. This is absolutely gorgeous beer.

The aroma is gloriously hopfruity: candied pineapple, passionfruit, mango and pink grapefruit especially. Goodgawdalmighty, this smells wonderful! The flavor is equally stupendous. Smutty IPA is one of the juiciest, tropical fruitiest IPAs that I've ever tasted. Because I love at least two of the hop varieties that make up the hop bill (Simcoe, Santiam, Amarillo), I love this beer!

If some people shy away from intensely hoppy beer because of the bitterness, then they haven't had a well-crafted IPA such as this one. It's intensely, pungently hoppy, but isn't bitter in the least. I could drink this stuff by the case-load. The body is medium-full for the style and the mouthfeel is impressively creamy with very little noticeable carbonation.

Simply superb. It's as if the brewers at Smuttynose took a reading directly from my brain regarding 'BuckeyeNation's IPA wish list' and then proceeded to brew a perfect match. I've had a lot of amazing beer in a very short period of time and this IPA is one of the best of the best. Highly recommended (in case you hadn't already figured that out).